Saturday, July 21, 2012

This card uses Penny Black's absolutely stunning new Soft Wings butterfly stamp. I think it is the most elegant butterfly stamp I have ever seen. The lace stamps from the Lace Delight acrylic stamp set go perfectly and help to give the card a vintage look. I tried out my new Stampin' Up Textured Impressions embossing folder Delicate Designs, adding it across the center of the card rather than using it as a border. I turned it over and ran it through the machine so that it "debossed" the front of the card.

The lace was stamped directly on the Neenah white card stock face of the card with Versafine Onyx Black ink and colored with Copics after waiting a minute for the ink to dry. Then I "debossed" the center of the card and stamped the "Happy Wishes" also from the Lace Delight stamp set in Onyx Black and highlighted with Copics. With a Stamp-a-ma-Jig to get it in just the right spot, I stamped just the antennae of the butterfly after coloring them on the stamp with a Stampin' Up Basic Black marker. Using Judikins Eclipse tape I masked the two lace stamps and sponged Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tumbled Glass on the center. I also added a few swipes of Weathered Wood Distress ink over the debossed section and sponged a bit of Pumice Stone Distress Ink on the sides of the sponged center area.

The butterfly was also stamped in Versafine Onyx Black Ink on a separate piece of Neenah white cardstock and colored with Copic Markers. For both the lace and the butterfly I used Copic markers W2, W3, W4, W5, C3, C4, T3, T4, T5, T6 as well as BG70, BG72 and BG75, E87, E89 and Y28. I also used a Basic Black Stampin' Up marker in a couple of spots on the lower lace image. After coloring the butterfly, I carefully cut it out, cutting off the antennae on purpose, and glued the body in place lining up the head with the stamped antennae. The wings are popped up with dimensional foam tape. Star Dust Stickles were added for a finishing touch to the lace and butterfly's eyes and Turquoise Stickles to the "debossed" design.

This week's F4A126 Challenge on Split Coast Stampers is "Weather or Not". We are supposed to make a card depicting weather. Lately our weather has been both very hot and humid, extremely unusual for Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Our garden has been growing like crazy with this kind of weather, so I decided to depict a summer garden.

I've been playing around with some of the new Penny Black stamps I recently ordered. I love the new Brick Wall cling stamp and the Puzzle Parts clear stamp set has so much potential.

This card is made using three of the Puzzle Parts clear acrylic stamps, the Brick Wall cling stamp and the silhouette plant cling stamp Breezy.

The Puzzle Parts stamp going across the very top of the card was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear heat embossed first, then the stamp that looks sort of like a trellis going down the side was stamped and also clear heat embossed. I masked the side stamp using Judikins Eclipse tape, then stamped and clear heat embossed the second Puzzle Parts stamp going across the top just below the first one, fitting them together like puzzle pieces.

I masked these stamps also with Eclipse tape. Then using a Stamp-a-ma-Jig, I stamped the Brick Wall, inked with a mixture of Stampin' Up Basic Gray and Soft Suede. I drew and colored a line on the brick wall just below the second Puzzle Parts stamp row to give it more depth. The masks were removed and all was colored with Copic Markers, shadowing to give depth.

Next I stamped the Breezy plant on the brick with a combination of Cottage Ivy and Teal Zeal Memento ink pads and a touch of Stampin' Up Soft Suede marker. This was stamped several times in different directions. I stamped Breezy again several times with the same inks on a separate piece of white Neenah cardstock and fussy cut them out. After outlining the edges with marker, these were glued directly over top of most of the images on the Brick Wall, giving it more dimension. Last I cut out the edge of the side Puzzle Parts Stamp before adding the black, blue and green mats. Except for the Breezy plant and mats everything is actually one layer.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look. All the wonderful comments are appreciated. Have a great weekend.
Sue

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I needed to make a birthday card and wanted to use my new Penny Black stamps. This week's OLW 97 Line Up Challenge looked like fun and fit my new stamps perfectly. The challenge guidelines for this week are to make a one layer card using lines - straight lines, zig-zigs, curves or any kind of lines - just so it has lines on it.

The butterfly is stamped first with Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear heat embossed, colored with Copic markers, then a Versamarker and clear heat embossed again.

Next the butterfly was masked with Judikins Eclipse Tape before stamping two rows of the Circles and Lines stamp also with Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear heat embossing. The lines are also colored with Copics.

The sentiment is stamped using both Tangelo and Dandelion inks. I used a Stamp-a-ma-Jig to position the lines and the sentiment.

Just when I thought I was finished I manged to smudge a couple of dabs of Dandelion ink right in the middle of the white space. So I decided to try out the new Fireworks! sprays I just purchased by Imagine Crafts. The colors match the Memento ink colors. I used the two that match Tangelo and Dandelion. This worked great to cover up my smudge. There is a pretty shimmer to the card now, but it doesn't show in the photo. Although I no longer have the nice white space, I do like the way the Fireworks! sprays look.

﻿Stamps: Penny Black Social Butterfly, Circles and Lines, and the sentiment is from Round and Round

For this card I decided to try out my new Stampin' Up Framelits Labels Collection dies for the first time. I used them to cut and use as a reverse mask for the scene, then to cut another opening and finally to cut out and emboss the frame.

The entire scene was first sponged starting at the top with Basful Blue, working my way down the scene next was Marina Mist and Tempting Turquoise in the middle. Switching over to purples and starting at the bottom of the scene, I first sponged Almost Amethyst, then Lavender Lace and Lovely Lilac met The Tempting Turqouise in the middle. Then using a torn edge Post-It Note, the shoreline was sponged with Lovely Lilac horizontally in the center where the blues and purlples meet. Using torn Post-It Notes, the mountains were sponged using the same purples. The palm trees were stamped with Versfine Onyx Black ink and heat dried before coloring with Soft Suede and Wld Wasabi Stampin' Up markers. A few dots of white gel pen, Soft Suede and Basic Black marker were added on the beach. For a finishing touch to the scene, white gel pen was added to highlight the trees and the water.

The Thanks was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink and heat dried. The mats are Concord Crush and Almost Amethysist cardstock making the dimensions of the finished card 5" x 7".

Thanks for stopping by and for all the wonderful, thoughtful comments. They are appreciated. Have a super weekend.

Monday, July 2, 2012

This card is a special thank you card for Michelle Zindorf. Another stamper friend and I recently had the opportunity to attend all three of Michelle Zindorf's workshops at Sand Lake, here in Michigan. It was a long day, but totally AWESOME. We learned so much and Michelle is such a fabulous artist and teacher. It was worth every minute of the 3-1/2 hour drive to take the workshops. I'm especially glad I was able to attend, because after the end of the year she won't be doing anymore traveling workshops.

﻿Several of the techniques she taught us in the workshops are used in this card. Some of these techniques include brayering, of course, sponging, masking and sponging with Post-It Notes, masking using Versamark and clear heat embossing, stamping by applying waterbase markers directly to the rubber stamps, several techniques using a white gel pen, and reversing the stamped image using Stanpin' Up's clear plastic Window Sheets.

All of the stamps, papers and other materials used are by Stampin' Up﻿.

About Me

My stamping studio is located at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge, which spans the Straits of Mackinac, joining Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. It is an area rich in scenic vistas where the waters of the Great Lakes Michigan and Huron join together. Behind the Scenes refers to my preference for scenic stamping. I enjoy the challenge of putting stamps together to create a scene or tell a story.